The story
BHLEN
254 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitoes of 5 Group. 1 Mosquito lost.
This raid was not successful, probably because the aircraft of the Master Bomber, Wing Commander E. A. Benjamin, was shot down by Flak over the target. Post-raid reconnaissance showed that damage to the target was 'superficial'; there was no evidence to show where the main bombing fell. (The body of Wing Commander E. A. Benjamin, D.F.C. and Bar, is buried in the Berlin War Cemetery.)
Minor Operations: 82 Mosquitoes to Erfurt and 24 in small numbers to 6 other targets, 9 R.C.M. sorties, 29 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.
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1 Halifax flew an R.C.M. sortie.
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DORTMUND
514 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitoes of 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups. 14 Lancasters lost.
The intention of this raid was to destroy the southern half of Dortmund and Bomber Command claimed that this was achieved. It appears that the Dortmund air-raid recording service had now broken down completely; the local Stadtarchiv has no details of any kind of this raid.
This was the last large Bomber Command raid of the war on Dortmund.
DÜSSELDORF
173 aircraft - 156 Halifaxes, 11 Mosquitoes, 6 Lancasters - of 4 and 8 Groups attacked the Rhenania Ossag refinery in the Reisholz district of DÜSSELDORF. The raid was accurate and it was later established that all oil production was halted. 7 people died in the raid. 4 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster lost.
MONHEIM
128 aircraft - 112 Halifaxes, 10 Mosquitoes, 6 Lancasters - of 6 and 8 Groups attacked the Rhenania Ossag refinery at Monheim with similar results to the Reisholz raid. 2 Halifaxes lost.
MITTELLAND CANAL
154 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes of 5 Group were ordered to attack the canal section near Gravenhorst but the raid was ordered to be abandoned by the Master Bomber because the area was covered by cloud. No aircraft lost.
DIVERSIONARY AND MINOR OPERATIONS
91 aircraft from Heavy Conversion Units in a sweep over the North Sea, 66 Mosquitoes to Berlin and 16 to Mannheim, 65 R.C.M. sorties, 45 Mosquito patrols, 6 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 aircraft of 100 Group (type not recorded) lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,283 sorties, 22 aircraft (1.7 percent) lost.
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